


Nancy Dao Got Married

by Ophelia Coelridge (daemonluna)



Category: This is Wonderland
Genre: F/F, Family, Romance, Same-Sex Marriage, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-02-03
Updated: 2004-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-14 05:36:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daemonluna/pseuds/Ophelia%20Coelridge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nancy has been planning her wedding for years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nancy Dao Got Married

Nancy has been planning her wedding for years. She will be married in June. The weather will be perfect, sunny but not too hot.

She will be stunning in a Western-style wedding dress. It will have to be cream or eggshell white, to suit her complexion. Her grandmother will insist on a traditional Chinese dress, but red makes Nancy looks like she has jaundice, and high collars just make her face look impossibly round. She'd like a veil, she thinks. And a train. Because if you're going to do anything, do it with style and do it big. That's what her father always says, and Nancy's always been inclined to throw herself into the deep end anyhow.

The ring, of course, will be just as impressive. She doesn't plan on settling on anything under twenty karats.

She will have at least four bridesmaids and none of them will be her cousin Beatrice. They can wear Chinese-style bridesmaids dresses. She only objects to the style when she wears it, after all. And there will be no taffeta nightmares at her wedding.

It will be a church wedding. She's not quite sure which church--it doesn't really matter, as long as it's got stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings. And the reception will be in a hotel ballroom, not a grubby little community hall like her Aunt Janice's. (Of course, Aunt Janice and her husband spent the entire time grinning idiotically at each other and Nancy is sure they didn't see anything around them at all, and then what's the point of even having a reception?) The flowers will be elegant, roses and ferns and fluffy white baby's breath.

There will be dancing, of course. It's traditional. Nancy's never danced much (ever), so she's signing up for a ballroom dance class. It's her wedding, so she'll have to dance, and do it well. Nancy does everything well.

And there will be cake--at least three layers, with all the fancy columns and frilly icing that entails.

The honeymoon will be somewhere exotic. Cancun, or the Caribbean. Nowhere tacky like Las Vegas or Hawaii. And it will last at least two weeks.

When Nancy does get married, it will go something like this:

It is August. They are married at the courthouse

Nancy wears a tailored skirt and jacket, in ivory linen. Alice wears a scoop-necked sundress, navy with a print of small, white flowers. Alice wanted Judge Fraser to marry them, but he passed away the previous spring. Justice Malone does the honours.

It is a very small wedding. Alice's parents stand on one side of the room. They had no objections--Alice's sister got married the summer before and the wedding itself was more circus than ceremony when all was said and done.

Nancy's parents stand on the other side. They look vaguely confused--she's still not entirely convinced that her mother understands that they're actually *really* going to be married. But they came, and she's telling herself that's all that matters.

There are no bridesmaids. The only flowers are the two small bunches of wildflowers Alice's mother pressed into their hands at the courthouse door.

Alice cries as they exchange vows, hands clasped tight. Her eyes well up and the tears slip silently down her face, but her voice only catches a little.

"I do." Nancy doesn't cry. Her hands shake a bit as she slides the plain gold band onto Alice's finger, but Alice is the only one who notices.

They're going to wait until October for the honeymoon. They're thinking about going to Victoria when they both have a weekend free. (Not that it ever happens, but for this, Nancy will make the time.)

They leave the courthouse, and the ring is a strange new weight on Nancy's finger. She reaches out, mercilessly throttling her self-consciousness, and takes Alice's hand. They're going to go home, and go out for dinner later. Alice's father has flagged down a cab for them, and slips the cabbie the fare before either of them can even think to protest.

"No, Dad, really..." Alice's protest trail off.

"Let me, sweetheart." He hugs her, and then hugs Nancy too. Nancy blinks, and pats his shoulder awkwardly.

"I'll take good care of 'em for you." The cabbie circles around the block twice and heads off in the wrong direction.

After the twenty-minute trip home has lasted almost an hour, and Nancy has threatened kidnapping charges at least five times, they finally pull up in front of their modest little house. (They're renting, but Alice loves it as much as if it were really theirs.)

It's all come to a bit of an anticlimax, really. (The wedding, at any rate. There's still a bottle of champagne in the fridge, and some rather interesting promises exchanged and plans made for its consumption later tonight.)

But the ring is still there on her finger, and Alice is leaning in close over her shoulder, though there will be no carrying of anyone over the threshold tonight.

The lights are on. Nancy and Alice exchange apprehensive looks.

"Do you think somebody broke in?" Alice whispers.

Nancy swings the door open slowly. "The alarm's not set. I know I set it when we left."

Then she realizes, there are balloons.

And streamers.

And their living room is full of people.

Alice's sister stands in the front, grinning wickedly and looking closer to thirteen than thirty. Carol is tall, blonde, and slim, but has the same warm, dark eyes as Alice. Nancy had always been under the impression that Carol couldn't stand her.

"Congratulations!" she shouts, and hugs them both exuberantly.

Alice's parents are standing behind Carol. Her mother is crying and dear god, her father has a video camera.

James is there, teary-eyed but smiling, so Nancy figures the medication's still working. And there's Anthony Davis, and David, and good lord, Elliot is hitting on her cousin Beatrice. She spots old clients, new clients, aunts and uncles, their next-door neighbours, more people than she ever thought she knew.

And her parents are there too, smiling tentatively.

"This... is this okay?" her mother asks. Nancy has hardly ever seen her look uncertain. It makes her throat oddly tight, and she's not quite sure how to tell them how very glad she is that they came at all.

"We hoped it would be," her father adds. "It was your mother's idea."

Then Nancy cries, and throws her arms around both of them. It makes her face go all blotchy, and her eyes turn red, and *ruins* her makeup. She doesn't care, and Alice wipes it off for her.

The party lasts late into the night, and when it's over, Nancy's parents have book them a very nice hotel room for the night.

"Don't forget the champagne," Alice whispers. Her lips brush against Nancy's earlobe, and she looks positively smug when Nancy shivers and, truth be told, blushes.

And there is cake. Chocolate cake. And dancing.

And it is worth mentioning that when they dance (Nancy leads), they do so beautifully.


End file.
